Events on the Horizon – February 2021

If you see a “members only” event in the list below that you want to attend but can’t, become a member ASAP so you can take advantage of these useful opportunities to meet amazing people, gain new skills, and learn about the universe!

Astronomy Smorgasbord Class Series

Wednesdays, Jan. 13 and 27; Feb. 3, 10, 17, and 24

7:00 – 9:00 p.m. EST

Location: Zoom

Cost: $15 for individual class, $45 for entire six-class series, AAA members only

Class-by-class synopses and registration HERE.

About the class series: Sample from a smorgasbord of astronomy! Explore varied avenues of astronomy with this six-week course of one-off topics, from the mysteries of light and black holes, to sundial and space exploration, and ways your computer and smartphone become tools for observing and imaging the night sky.  As an astronomical taste-tester, you can expand your horizons and help shape future AAA class offerings.  This is one buffet that won’t break your New Year resolutions.

Lecture: “Journeying to the Asteroid Bennu and Back with the OSIRIS-REx Sample Return Mission”

Tuesday, Feb. 9

Room opens at 6:50, lecture from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. EST

Location: Zoom

Cost: FREE

Register HERE.

OSIRIS-REx has traveled to a near-Earth asteroid called Bennu and will bring a small sample back to Earth for study. The mission launched Sept. 8, 2016, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, reaching Bennu in 2018. Last October the spacecraft successfully collected a sample from the asteroid, which it will return to Earth in 2023. 

Speaker: Carl Hergenrother was born in the Bronx and grew up in Oakland, New Jersey. After graduation from the University of Arizona, he became an observational astronomer at the university’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory where he studied comets and asteroids. For the past seventeen years, Carl has been a member of the observation planning and science teams of the NASA OSIRIS-REx mission to acquire samples from the carbonaceous near-Earth asteroid (101955) Bennu. Carl enjoys backyard observing where his “go to” equipment is a pair of Vixen 30×125 binoculars. He is the Comets Section Coordinator and Associate Director of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers (ALPO) as well as a board member of the American Meteor Society.

Livestream: Moon-topia

Monday, Feb. 15

7:30 – 8:00 p.m. EST

Cost: FREE

Location: AAA Facebook Live

Moon-topia – a monthly look at a few of the amazing moons of our solar system.

AAA continues to follow official recommendations regarding COVID-19 and coordinates with any partner institutions regarding event cancellations.

For the status of any event, check the AAA Calendar or Upcoming Events on the AAA website home page.

You can subscribe to the AAA Google Calendar on this page by clicking the button in lower right corner of page.